Arab American Heritage Month

April is Arab American Heritage Month, making it a perfect time to celebrate the talents of Arab American authors. This month we celebrate Arab American heritage and culture and recognize the contributions of Arab Americans and Arabic-speaking Americans. When many Americans think of Arab culture, they think of Muslims, but Arabs share a culture, not a religion. They may be Muslim, Jewish, or Christian. They speak Arabic and share traditions that come from Northern Africa and Southwest Asia (the geographic area sometimes called the Middle East), but their  ethnicities, politics, and religions can be different. The world’s 22 Arab nations are Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Yemen.

Jasmine Warga is an Arab-American writer and the author of Other Words for Home. She says, “I was born on April 24, 1988 at 11:59 PM in Cincinnati, Ohio. This means that I am a Taurus if you are into astrology and star stuff, which I most definitely am. Also, like all other people from Cincinnati, I am inordinately proud of my little Midwestern city and think that Graeter’s black raspberry chip ice cream is the most delicious food in the whole world. (I’m really into a baby hippo named Fiona, too. She makes her home at the Cincinnati Zoo.)

“Growing up, I loved to read. I also loved to tell stories. I come from a long-line of story-tellers. I only met my paternal grandmother twice—she lived in Jordan—but one of my most distinct childhood memories is of her telling me a story about the mermaids that live in the Dead Sea. That story has stayed with me for years. Stories are the way I make sense of our messy and complicated world. 

“But back to reading—when I was younger, I read about every book I could get my hands on. Some of my favorites were Charlotte’s Web, The Witches, and Anne of Green Gables. I read The Bridge to Terabithia when I was in fourth grade, and it is the first book I remember reading by myself that made me cry. In middle school, we read books by Sharon Draper and Margaret Peterson Haddix, and I fell in love with their stories. I wanted to live in the world of Ella Enchanted, and I couldn’t stop thinking about The Giver. In college, reading brilliant writing made my own desire to tell stories feel possible in a way it hadn’t before. 

“I went to college with the intention of getting a degree in something practical because that’s what “good” daughters of immigrants do, but I ended up graduating with a degree in Art History and History. After graduation, I found a job teaching 6th grade science (I know, right?). While teaching, I started to try my hand at writing my own stories. Lots of false starts and messy drafts later, here we are. I feel extremely lucky as all I’ve ever wanted to do is tell stories. 

“These days, I live in the Chicago area with my family—my husband, my two little girls, my grumpy (but very sweet) cat, and my very sweet (and not really grumpy at all) dog—in a house full of books. My current favorite things are music, buttery popcorn, and flowering trees."

A fairy tale is a story about magical and imaginary creatures and places. In these stories we meet witches and queens, giants and elves, princes, dragons, talking animals, ogres, princesses, and sometimes even fairies. Marvelous and magical things happen to characters in fairy tales. A boy may become a bird. A princess may sleep for a hundred years. A seal may become a girl and objects can be enchanted — mirrors may talk, pumpkins may become carriages, and a lamp may be home to a genie. In fairy tales, truth, generosity, hard work, love, mercy and kindness are the greatest powers of all.

The oldest fairy tales were told and retold for generations before they were written down. Different versions of Little Red Riding Hood were told in Europe, North America, China, Japan, and Ghana. Different versions of Cinderella were told in Egypt, Iceland, China, England, Korea, Siberia, France, and Vietnam.

This week, students in first and second grade read many versions of the Three Little Pigs.  first graders then designed their own little houses. 

Women's History Month

Women’s History Month celebrates the contributions and achievements women have made over the course of history in a variety of fields. The world has often overlooked or ignored the accomplishments of women. We learn about extraordinary women all year long, and we take extra time to honor them in March.

This week, students in fourth grade read about Ada Byron Lovelace, who wrote the world's first computer program over one hundred years before the first mechanical computer was completed. The modern coding language Ada is named in her honor. 

Students then tried their hand at writing a detailed list of instructions for making a sandwich. I played the role of human computer and followed their instructions literally. How would you write the program for making a sandwich if your code included only the commands lift, open, close, bend, move, turn, reach and directions (up, down, right left), numbers, body parts (arm, hand, elbow, wrist), and units of measurement (inches, feet, degrees)? Could you do it? Did we leave out any necessary terms? It turns out that if you're not careful, the results can be more hilarious than delicious. 

The Oregon Reader's Choice Award was founded in 2010 and is intended to be a fun and exciting way for Oregon youth to become enthusiastic and discriminating readers.  

Oregon students, teachers, and librarians nominate books for consideration.  The nominations are then reviewed by a committee of librarians and educators.  The committee creates the final ballots based on literary quality, creativity, reading enjoyment, reading level, and regional interest. Finally, Oregon students vote to select the award winner. Voting is open until April 20. This year's nominees are: 

● Amina's Song by Hena Khan

● Clash by Kayla Miller

● The House that Wasn't There by Elana Arnold

● Lion of Mars by Jennifer L. Holm

● Lotería by Karla Arenas Valenti

● Stamped (for Kids ): racism, antiracism and you adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul

from Jason Reyolds and Ibram X. Kendi

● Once Upon a Camel by Kathi Appelt

● When Life Gives You Lemons Make Peach Pie by Erin Soderberg Downing

Research, biographies, tessellations, and Black History, oh my!

Students in third grade used the online research tool Gale in Context Elementary to learn about a Black change-maker in American History. They found what the person is known for, their birthdate, death date,  and a fun fact about them. They each recorded this biographical information on a hexagonal "quilt block," and then attached the block to a name block and portrait block which they colored to match their biography block. Hexagons are a shape that tessellate, or  fit together closely without gaps or overlapping, so when when they are completed, the students' work fits together creating a Black History Month Quilt of Heroes. 

Sora is the app for Beaverton School District's digital library with ebooks and audio books available for students all year long. Users can also link their Washington County Library card to access even more great reads.

• Install the Sora app from the Apple App Store or  Google Play Store, or go to soraapp.com

• Under your Profile, select "add library," enter Sato, and click "this is my school"

• Select "add library," enter Washington County, select Washington County Cooperative Library Services, and click "this is my library"

• When you are ready to borrow a title, sign in and start reading!

• BSD User Name/password: 6 digit student ID/BSD password

• WCCLS User Name/password: the letters BSD followed by the 6 digit student ID/ last 4 digits of the student ID (for example- library card: BSD123456 password: 3456)

• Users can check out up to three books at a time from BSD and five from WCCLS

• Check out time is for two weeks

• Return books when finished so other students can enjoy them

• If a book is not renewed, the item will automatically return

• Users can only renew an item if there are no holds on the item

• Users can place a hold on up to three books from BSD and five from WCCLS

• Check your Sora account regularly to see if a hold is ready

Students in kindergarten and first grade celebrated our recent snow storm with a winter classic, Axle Annie. 

Winter packs a wallop in Burskyville. But it doesn't matter how hard it snows, because Axle Annie is the best school bus driver who's ever lived. "Do snow plows plow? Do tow trucks tow? Are school buses yellow? Of course I can make it up Tiger Hill," she says, and that's why the schools never close. The laziest bus driver in town is not pleased at all, so he comes up with a scheme to keep Axle Annie off the road. But he's not counting on Axle Annie's gumption. Of course she'll make it up Tiger Hill—won't she?

January birthday author Janet Stevens is often asked how she learned to draw so well. She answers, “Lots and lots of practice!  I’ve always loved to draw, and I’ve worked hard at it.  I draw and redraw characters.  Believe me, I don’t always like the way it turns out.” She was born in Texas and now lives in Colorado. She used to draw on school assignments, including her math work.

Second graders this week read The Great Fuzz Frenzy, then used colored cotton they stretched, fluffed, tugged, twirled, spkiked and swirled to make their own Fuzz Frenzy!

Each year on the third Monday in January, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Dr. King was a radical who challenged systemic racism, railed against police brutality and advocated for a universal basic income. He reminded the country of its racist past. He fought income inequality. Not only did he condemn the openly racist opponents of equality, but echoing the words of Edmund Burke who lived 200 years earlier, he reminded those willing to sit idly by while their fellow countrymen were oppressed that they were also oppressors. He and thousands of other civil rights activists worked so that all of us could have a better world to live in. That struggle continues today with the brave anti-racist who live in our time.

Students in fourth grade read Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, the true story of the historic Woolworth's Lunch Counter Sit In. Students then participated in an activity that allowed them to see that we may not have all of the same likes and dislikes as our close friends and we may have more in common with others we don't usually spend time with than we realize. Ask your students: What kind of things bring us together as friends? What kinds of behaviors are really important for people to stay friends with each other?" What kinds of things tend to divide us at Sato?" While some things may divide us, other things can unite us — even simple things like ice cream. 

The inaugural PDX BIPOC Book Fair will be held Dec. 23 from 12 to 4 p.m. at Norse Hall (111 N.E. 11th Ave., Portland). The event offers books by BIPOC authors, of every genre, for early readers to 17-year-olds. Tickets are $5, and low-income families can request a fee waiver. Masks are required for all attendees. Tickets and more information available here.

 All children and teens who attend can select one book of their choice for free. Several local authors will be in attendance, and there will be a few planned activities. Background details are in this article in The Skanner.

At this time of year, many people organize toy drives, food drives, coat drives and other special collections for non-profit organizations. These activities are examples of compassion, a feeling of wanting to help someone who is sick, hungry, hurt, in trouble, etc. This year at Sato, families are invited to donate supplies for Beaverton students experiencing housing insecurity. 

After reading books where children show compassion in ways both big and small, students made text-to-life connections by discussing big and small ways that they can show compassion every day from supporting the Lend-a-Paw supply drive to inviting someone to play, and participated in an activity to reinforce their learning.  Students in kindergarten searched for hidden pictures of children doing kind things. First graders practiced offering sincere compliments. Second graders worked to develop an understanding of the connection between emotions and compassion by playing a game involving pictures of children expressing different emotions. Students in fourth grade played Toxic Swamp Crossing, a collaborative problem solving game that requires compassion and teamwork.

When we think of a person's cultural heritage, we often consider their food, language, music, celebrations, traditional clothing, stories, and even sports. While important, these are all examples of surface culture. Deeper culture encompasses things that can't necessarily be seen, felt, heard, smelled, or tasted. Deeper culture includes our ideas about right and wrong, fairness, competition and cooperation, time, humor, spiritual beliefs and practices, and even how we learn. Deep culture is how our brain makes sense of the world.  Reading is one of the most powerful ways we can come to understand cultures other than our own. Books provide an opportunity for readers to see things from a perspective they may never encounter, to view situations they may never experience, and to find commonality with characters they may have seen only as other. Reading encourages the development of awareness, compassion, empathy, and a more accurate understanding of one’s place in our complex, multicultural society.  

I am so excited to introduce Marie Ballard - our new part-time LMA supporting the library and afternoon specials! Marie comes to us with a vast variety of experiences including classroom teacher, media specialist,  and public library specialist for teens and children.  She is also the author of a children's book herself!  She donated a copy to Sato's library -- you should check it out!

In the classroom, students learn to read and learn to read for information, using texts at their instructional level. In the library, students read for fun, the third pillar in developing a life-long love of reading. Choice reading, not leveled reading, is the key component of this third pillar. This is why our library collection focuses on choice, fun, and support of student interests.

When the famous leveling reading instructors Fontas and Pinnell were asked “What are the best ways to help children become confident readers?" They answered, "We believe that choice is a really important part of going to the library and using the library. It’s at the heart of what it means to become a confident reader. If you have an opportunity to choose what you read. . . it builds your sense of yourself as a reader and your self-efficacy as a reader. That’s where confidence really begins.” (Parrott, K. 2017, October 12. Fountas and Pinnell Say Librarians should guide readers by interest, not level. School Library Journal.)

There are as many reasons for choosing a book as there are readers, and finishing every book they pick up isn't necessary. Fountas and Pinnell also stated that “If a child chooses a book that is too hard for them to read, they may stretch themselves and enjoy that book for a period of time.” So if your student brings home books that aren't "at their level," know that the act of choosing is powerful, and honoring that choice is an act of validation.

Registration is now open for Oregon Battle of the Books! OBOB is a statewide reading motivation and comprehension program sponsored by the Oregon Association of School Libraries in conjunction with a Library Services and Technology Act grant. Students in grades 3-12, regardless of ability, are exposed to quality literature representing a variety of literary styles and viewpoints. The goals of the program are to encourage and recognize students who enjoy reading, broaden reading interests, increase reading comprehension, and promote academic excellence.

Lists of books are chosen and questions are written for elementary, middle school and high school divisions. Students read the books, discuss them, quiz each other on the contents and then compete in teams of four students to correctly answer questions based on the books in a quiz show format. Some questions begin with the words “In which book…” so that the answer will be a title and author. Other questions will be on content with the title of the book supplied. New lists of sixteen titles for each division are compiled each year.

Students must register as a team. All registrations will be due no later than Friday, November 17. Students must register at Sato, not through the OBOB website. Third grade teams are formed in their classrooms, giving the students and teachers the opportunity to work together to form well-balanced teams who will work well together and with other teams. Friends from different third-grade classes will not be on the same team.

We celebrate Filipino American History in October to commemorate the arrival of the first Filipinos who landed in what is now Morro Bay, California on October 18, 1587 and to celebrate the birth month of Filipino American labor leader Larry Itliong. Filipino American History Month focuses on the events, experiences, and lives of Filipino Americans and their impact on society.

Did you know?

— Filipino is the Hispanized (or Anglicized) way of referring to both the people and the language in the Philippines. Note that it is also correct to say Filipino for a male and Filipina for a female. Never use or say Philippino.

— Pilipino is how the locals from the Philippines refer to themselves or to their national language. When applied to the language, Pilipino is synonymous with Tagalog. The ‘P’ or ‘Ph’ is used because most Filipino languages do not have the ‘F’ sound.

— Pilipinas, which is the name of the country itself, is derived from the Hispanized word Filipinas, the old Spanish name of the country. The ‘Ph’ is from Philip, the English equivalent of the Spanish King Felipe II.

— Pinoy is the shortened, colloquial version for 'Filipino' and is used to refer to the people of the Philippines, but never the language. It becomes Pinay when referring to a female, although Pinoy is also used to refer to both male and female.

When you visit the grocery store would you expect to find the bananas next to the chicken? What would you think if the milk was next to the tomatoes? Just like the grocery store is organized with similar foods in the same section to make them easier to find, our library is organized into different sections called collections. By keeping similar kinds of books together in different collections, it is easier to find exactly what you're looking for.  

This week, students in third and fourth grade reviewed the sections of our library and the codes used to identify each collection. Students then practiced sorting books into the correct collections by reading the codes from the spine labels. The top line of the spine label always indicates the collection where library users can find the book. 

Whether a student is in the mood for an Everybody book (E), Early Reader (ER), Easy Chapter Book (ECB), or Fiction (FIC), Nonfiction (Dewey Number), Graphic Novel (GN), Series (SER), or World Language (WL) title, they can find just what they're looking for. 

Heritage is something inherited from the past and valued enough today to leave for future generations. Heritage can be something you can touch and see, but it can also be things you can’t like music, stories, and traditions. Heritage helps us remember where we came from and where we belong. Heritage is one piece of our cultural identity- all the things that make up your story.

National Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) honors the cultures and contributions of both Hispanic and Latino/a Americans as we celebrate heritage rooted in all Latin American countries. During this month and throughout the year, we share the history, heritage, and accomplishments of Hispanic and Latino/a Americans past and present.

As students prepare to take books home, it is a good time to review best practices for taking care of library books. 

• Hold your book like a treasure. You and the book are both safer if it is closed while you are walking.

• Always read with clean hands.

• Turn pages carefully from the corner to avoid tears and wrinkles.

• Do not write, draw, or color in library books.

• Always use a bookmark. Never dogear pages or turn the open book cover side up to save your place. 

• Keep books away from food and drinks. No reading and eating!

• Keep the books away from pets and young children. 

• Never attempt to fix a damaged book. 

• Keep your book in your backpack when you're not reading it. It will never get mixed up with Bethany Library books and you will never forget it on library day.  😊

We hit the ground running this week with 29 classes visiting our new library space and we will welcome four more classes this week. It has been such a delight to witness the student's excitement as settle into this new space together. There are a few details that need to be fine tuned, but the important work is done and the space is GREAT! I admit I was nervous not knowing how  our existing furniture and collection would fit in a space that is a little smaller and very different shape, but I think it's brilliant. I hope that you get to take a look at Back to School Night.  Thanks so much for the many friends, parents, and colleagues whose hours of help made this magic possible.

I am so excited to welcome our students to our brand-new library space! As I write this, the construction crew is installing bulletin boards and ceiling tiles. The books have been unpacked and shelved.  By the end of the day all of our chairs, tables, shelves, and  flexible seating will be in place and ready for reading, learning, and book joy. 

Here are a few dates to look forward to:

• August 28-September 5 (first rotation) First check out for students in grades 4-5

• September 6-13 (second rotation) First check out for students in grades 2-3

• September 14-21 (third rotation) First check out for students in grades K-1

• October 10-18 OBOB orientation and registration kick off for 3-5th grade

• October 13 Fall Book Fair in the under cover area (non-school day for students)

Your student's library days can be found by following the Calendar link above.